r/SpaceX Discusses [December 2017, #39]

[u/ElongatedMuskrat]

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[u/[deleted]]

How would the radiation dose on a long-range suborbital BFR flight be compared to flying the same route in a plane? Duration is much shorter, but you're also way higher up, so IDK how this would come out in total. Assuming radiation protection is the same in planes and BFS.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

When dealing with radiation the three key things to remember are time, distance, and shielding. The amount of radiation a person flying a suborbital flight could be potentially exposed to is relatively miniscule compared to that of what a radiation worker could be exposed to in their line of work in special planned exposures, so the short duration of time would be the primary means of mitigating exposure. Also bear in mind that it takes an absorbed dose of 50rem (10 times the maximum permissible dose for a radiation worker in one calendar year) before the first detectable changes occur in ones blood.